The parents of a teenager, author of a deadly shooting at his high school, ignored signs of psychiatric disorders and calls for help from their sons, according to witnesses heard Tuesday February 8 in a court in the northern United States. United.
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On Nov. 30, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley killed four and injured six at his school in Oxford, north of Detroit, Michigan, with a gun his parents had bought for him a few days earlier.
After attempting to flee, James and Jennifer Crumbley, aged 45 and 43 respectively, were charged with "
manslaughter
", a charge very rarely retained in this context.
On Wednesday, they appeared, handcuffed and with their legs shackled, before a Michigan judge who must decide if there is enough evidence to send them to trial.
Overwhelming picture
To convince her, the prosecutors called several witnesses to the stand who, by small touches, painted a damning picture of the couple, visibly insensitive to the many warning signals sent by their son.
An investigator thus presented text messages sent by Ethan Crumbley to his mother more than seven months before the tragedy, in which he said he heard noises, saw "
demons
" and evoked his "
paranoia
".
"
Can you at least text me back?"
“
I'm scared
,” he wrote to her one evening, alone at home.
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Analysis of Jennifer Crumbley's phone shows she didn't answer until the next morning.
“
During that time, she was riding a horse
,” said Inspector Edward Wagrowski, showing selfie photos taken at the same time.
To those around her, she spoke "
every day
" of riding, but very rarely of her son, limiting herself to evoking a "
lonely
" child, affected by the death of his dog and the departure of his only friend, reported d former colleagues and the owner of the stable where her horses lived.
The day before the shooting, the school had called her because Ethan had searched his phone for information about ammunition during class.
"
LOL, I'm not mad.
You should just learn not to get caught
,” she wrote to him.
The next day, the parents were summoned because their son had scribbled “
my life is useless
” or “
blood everywhere
”, and drawn a gun and a bloody body on his math quiz.
Jennifer Crumbley had shared a photo of this copy with her department head and her riding instructor, mentioning just having "
a shitty day
".
But the couple left Ethan in high school to go back to work.
The teenager had then taken a weapon from his backpack and fired about thirty times, targeting his school friends at random.
The hearing will resume on February 23.